a world of sensation
by Mia-Zeklos
Summary: Charlie hasn't seen what snow looks like yet and he wants to know what all the fuss is about.


**Notes: Written by a prompt. This is my first time writing these characters so I hope I got them right. It was fun trying to explain snow like I don't know what it is, though.**

On the climate matter: I've been to Poland all of one time and I live relatively close to it, so I took a chance with describing what the weather would be like there. I've heard that it doesn't snow much in the UK, but I needed it for the purpose of the story, and plus, the main character in said story is an alien prince so I'm not going for realism anyway. Still, I'd love to hear what you think of this!

As the weather got progressively colder outside, Charlie got his first taste of what the seasons on Earth looked like.

Quill didn't like it at all. She could survive it, of course, but she complained about it – loudly – and soon enough Matteusz had stepped in and walked her through turning on the heating.

Charlie wasn't sure what to make of it. He didn't think it was all that cold (and neither did Quill, he suspected, but she always made appoint of exactly how unpleasant everything here was) and he'd been told that there were places on Earth that were much colder. Still, he bought the appropriate clothes and made sure to be convincing enough when people complained to him about the climate.

Apparently, it didn't bother Matteusz much either.

"It's much colder back home this time of the year," he said one day. "And the summers are much hotter." Charlie couldn't see him from where he was rummaging through the wardrobe, but he could hear him sigh. "I hope it snows for Christmas."

Charlie went still. "Snow?" He looked up, abandoning the search for clothes for now. "Christmas?"

When the Doctor had picked them up with his TARDIS, the time machine had done something to both him and Quill so that they could understand ever language in the universe. They both still made the effort to speak actual English – neither of them could know if some of the worlds in their respective native languages would even have an earthly equivalent – but otherwise, it made things very easy.

What it didn't help with was understanding words for concepts one didn't know anything about in the first place.

Matteusz seemed surprised for a moment and then laughed in his _of course you don't know_ way. Charlie could never figure out how, but somehow he managed to make it seem endearing instead of patronising.

"Snow is like rain," he explained. "Only it's frozen."

"But..." Charlie hesitated. "I thought you didn't have that here."

When he had first mentioned that it rained ice on Rhodia, his friends had been terrified.

"As in icicles?" April had asked, looking far more shaken that she had when he'd admitted to being an alien for the first time and Charlie had resorted to his phone to find out what _that_ was. When he'd seen the images, the answer had been a firm 'no'. He wasn't sure how humans managed to walk outside so calmly in winter if there were blades of ice hanging off of the edges of their buildings, but he'd been suitably impressed by their bravery nonetheless.

The ice crystals that rained on Rhodia were much smaller and couldn't cause any serious harm, but they were still unpleasant to deal with if someone was unprepared. They'd developed a device not unlike the umbrellas that humans used for rain, with the only difference being the fact that their version of it could be attached to their clothing.

"It's not like _your_ frozen rain." Matteusz frowned. "I think. I've never seen it. But- snow is not completely frozen. You can mould it into different shapes and- it's not ice, okay? You'll see it."

It was clear that it was difficult for him to explain something that had just been _there_ all his life, so Charlie had tried to do his own research. It hadn't been easy – he'd mostly got weather reports and pictures of snowmen (not actual, living people made of snow, he'd been relieved to find out; just a fun activity meant mostly for children), but no actual explanation. He supposed that it was understandable – for the people of the Earth, snow was just snow.

He'd researched Christmas too, but it had turned out to be much more difficult to remember anything beyond it being an important holiday. There were too many different rituals tied to it from too many different countries and _far_ too many religious references for him to memorise, at least for now. He made a mental note to remember to ask Matteusz if he'd like a tree when the appropriate time came and left it at that, but the images of what winter looked like to humanity had stuck with him.

When he fell asleep that night, he dreamt of home and for the first time, it didn't feel as far away as it had before.

 **o.O.o**

Another thing that wasn't easily explained: humans loved snow. It got their shoes wet, it was cold and if there was wind, it could turn into a blizzard, but they still loved it. It was important for them to have it, especially around Christmas. There were songs written about it and Charlie was painfully curious to see it firsthand. The videos he found on the Internet weren't very helpful – humanity hadn't reached the stages of mass production of any video that wasn't two dimensional and looking at it could only get him so far.

One morning in the middle of December Charlie woke up to his entire balcony covered in something that definitely hadn't been there last night. He snuck out of bed and cautiously approached the door, sliding it open to take a better look.

A small gust of wind made him shiver, but he didn't back away, fascinated and a little scared by the small white particles that fell off the sky. The first thing that came to mind were the flower petals – their appearance had been just as sudden and just as innocent and they'd started piling up in no time at all – but this didn't look like them in the slightest. It resembled foam, but it looked much more solid and-

 _Oh_.

"What're you looking at?" Matteusz mumbled from the bed – he'd woken up in the meantime, clearly – but he sounded wide awake a second later when Charlie didn't respond. "What's going on?"

"I'm not sure," Charlie said, motioning at him to come closer. "But I think it might be snowing."

Matteusz scrambled out from under the covers, already smiling as he peered out of the window.

"It's definitely snowing," he said and he sounded excited enough for Charlie to be unable to do anything but smile in response. "You want to see it?" Charlie nodded. "Get dressed. It's very cold."

In five minutes' time there were already outside.

It was nothing like crystal rain.

Even though it was already piling up on the ground, the snow didn't fall all at once. The tiny particles were still floating down, leaving momentary cold traces over Charlie's skin as he looked up to examine them. Even when it had fallen in a heap near the front door, it was still soft to the touch; cold but pliable. He stood up to ask Matteusz about the snowmen he'd read about and flinched when something hit him in the back of his head and slid slowly down his back.

"What..." He turned around and saw one of the neighbours's kids armed with gloves and shaping more of the snow into another ball. "Are we under attack?" His eyes darted to the house; he wasn't sure Quill was even awake yet. "Should we call for assistance?"

"No." Matteusz laughed as if it was the most ridiculous question he'd ever heard. For all Charlie knew, it really could be. "It's just a snowball fight. Snow is not a weapon."

"Oh." It was a fight and things were being thrown at him, but it wasn't a weapon. Just when he'd thought that Earth had been starting to make sense. "Should I fight back?"

Matteusz's smile died and he shook his head. "Better not. Their mother will shout at you."

"I don't understand," Charlie admitted and Matteusz laughed again.

"I'll tell you all about it," he promised. "Now let's get inside. Don't want you to catch a cold."

"But-" Now that he'd got his hands on something so _new_ , Charlie wanted nothing more than to explore it even more.

"Come," Matteusz coaxed and took his hand. "We need to show it to Miss Quill too. I'm not having this conversation _twice_."


End file.
